mitt romney won a michigan straw poll this weekend. he won ohio in july. in new hampshire he won in january. mr. santorum won his home state of pennsylvania, as well as south carolina. michele bachmann won ames, iowa. if straw polls meant winning that state, if he meant electoral college votes, these would be the standings. among the republican presidential contenders right now. maybe that's the way it is. maybe that's exactly how the republican nomination contest is going to play out. ron paul and herman cain duking it out down to the wire. if you believe that, keep using up all that shoe leather and pixels and all that breath covering republican party fund-raisers. i mean, straw polls. because of their great predictive value and all the important information they give us the presidential race. or, we could all agree to treat these things as what we all know they are. cooked-up publicity stunts to get media attention and use it as leverage to force the candidates to pander to the most manipulative and cynical activists in the political system. oh, and to